Laurel Valley Road paving moving along rapidly

Friday

Dec 21, 2012 at 10:01 PM

The paving process of a popular, dusty shortcut is ahead of schedule, Lafourche Parish officials said.

Xerxes Wilson Staff Writer

The paving process of a popular, dusty shortcut is ahead of schedule, Lafourche Parish officials said.Laurel Valley Road, which connects La. 308 south of Thibodaux to Chocktaw Road southwest of Choctaw, is being rapidly improved, said Public Works Director Kerry Babin. It serves as a shortcut for residents driving from the Choctaw or Chackbay to Nicholls State University and Thibodaux Regional Medical Center and is a hurricane evacuation route.Parish President Charlotte Randolph said she hopes the paved route will alleviate often heavy traffic on La. 20.“It is a direct route for many people in that area and hopefully this will reduce some of the traffic on Highway 20,” Randolph said. “I don’t want it to become the Indy 500 road or lover’s lane.”The contractor is building up the roadway’s foundation with limestone to meet elevation requirements, Babin said. The company is also fixing bad spots so it can begin the asphalting process.“They have been working on overload. It will be on schedule or ahead of schedule,” Randolph said.The project started last month and work is expected to take six months to complete, she added. The $3 million project is being paid for by a federal grant tied to hurricanes Gustav and Ike.The parish is also gearing up to do about $22 million in road work in 2013 through a recently secured bond. The entire bond is for $25 million, but given repayment regulations and fees, about $22 million of that will be available for work, Randolph said. The work should begin shortly after the new year begins, Randolph said. The bond will be repaid through Road Sales Tax District A, which encompasses areas north of Larose where the work will be done. All work financed by the bond will take place in the district as well.Randolph has been consulting councilmen from the district to get a comprehensive list of the road needs in their area.Many of the projects involve repairing long-neglected areas of streets, though there will be some major resurfacing projects involved, she said.Randolph said she hopes to have all the projects done by the end of 2013. Money from the bond will also pay for some drainage projects outlined in the parish’s drainage master plan.

Staff Writer Xerxes A. Wilson can be reached at 448-7639 or xerxes.wilson@houmatoday.com.

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